You mean you don’t think it’s odd that the Greens think when Australian Intelligence says “jump” we should ask how high? Or that their xenophobia apparently now trumps even common sense? The Huawei Question – Russell Brown, H A R D N E W S

Go on, take a guess how many people went on benefits ever working day last year. Hint: it’s more than the opposite of what Minister Paula Bennett would lead you to believe. One person a minute - L I N D S A Y M I T C H E L L

It’s often said you could almost fit New Zealand’s entire mainstream political spectrum—from conservatives to so-called liberals—inside the U.S. Democratic Party. But is that correct? Antipodean Dreaming - Eric Crampton, O F F S E T T I N G B E H A V I O U R

Christchurch property activist Hugh Pavletich from Performance Urban Planning blasts Non-Recovery Czar Gerry Brownlee and his Government for the woeful job they’ve done allowing Christchurch to re-house. Says Hugh: “What part of ‘allow’ don’t you understand Gerry? Just listen to Brownlee’s appalling responses to the points I made. His only interest is to protect the interests of ‘investors’ interests – Gerry-speak for land bankers and speculators, i.e., cronies of the National Party, and to hell with those desperate for affordable housing in Christchurch.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BLZ8lOozoc

What makes it even more infuriating, says Hugh, is the ignorance of Hon Annette King, Local Government Spokesthing for Labour—the party of economic Neanderthals—allowing the all-but-absent Housing Minister Heatley such an easy ride. “Labour should have learnt by now how it ‘stuffed’ this country with the unnecessary inflating housing bubble 2002 - 2007 - as this Christchurch City Council Quick Facts Graph illustrates. Christchurch was on its knees at the time of the 4 September 2010 earthquakes some 18 months ago: http://www.cantabriansunite.co.nz/Our-Purpose/

“One of the points that economists have a really hard time getting over, probably because it is so counter-intuitive, is that we human beings don’t really consume resources, we create them…” We Don't Consume Resources, We Create Them –Tim Worstall, F O R B E S

American conservatives are great ones for following the Founding Fathers, or so they say. Want to guess what the Founding Father policy on immigration was? “Passed in the first Congress, the Naturalization Act of 1790 had zero restrictions on immigration. You read that right, the first immigration law passed in the United States, by the Founders themselves, supported open immigration… Combining the Founder's openness for immigration with the 14th Amendment race-neutral grant of birth-right citizenship--with proper checks for criminals, terrorists, and the seriously ill--would legalize almost all immigration…” The Founders’ Immigration Policy- H U F F I N G T O N P O S T

Economic Dictator Ben Bernanke got the job because he’s supposedly the best in the world at knowing what the fuck is going on economically speaking. Here’s 30 examples of his alleged wisdom, such as, in Jan. 10, 2008: “The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.” 30 Bernanke Quotes That Are So Absurd You Won’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry– B U S I N E S S I N S I D E R

You might have noticed that Chief Fed Reserve Spinmeister Ben Bernanke has been out on the trail trying to win the hearts and minds of impressionable youngsters. He starts bad and he gets worse. “Bernanke’s discussion of the gold standard is perhaps the low point of a generally poor performance,” reports George Selgin. Anti-Bernanke – F R E E B A N K I N G . O R G

Why is the UK economy failing? “Do not heed those who paint with a limited palette and speak only of [non-existent] fiscal austerity.” It’s failing because it’s fundamentals are rooted. Why is the UK economy failing? – M A R G I N A L R E V O L U T I O N

Speaking of non-austerity, Britain wasted the opportunity to escape some of their suicidal enviro-stupidity on climate change that push up energy bills for millions of households. The laws have been spared George Osborne’s cull. Silly buggers: Climate law survives red tape cull - Steven Milloy, J U N K S C I E N C E

Islam is like … ? In response to the murders of a rabbi and three children in Toulouse, France, and to the murders of the French paratroopers by Mohamed Mera, Ed Cline likens Islam to “an ideological Black Death that must be faced up to by politicians and intellectuals. There's no such thing as a ‘benign’ Islam. It is a death-worshipping ideology from top to bottom. And the only way to emasculate it is to repudiate it in its entirety." Islamic Jihad: Hurry Up or Wait? - Edward Cline, R U L E O F R E A S O N

“A big error has haunted humanity for centuries: it’s the equivocation between generosity and altruism.The former is a virtue any decent human being will practice: it asks of one to reach out to deserving others in times of dire need. The latter is a policy of devoting oneself to benefiting others above all. The former is admirable, the latter is suicidal.” Altruism Isn’t Generosity – Tibor Machan, B AS T I A T I N S T I T U T E

Included in his five ‘I’s is this great example of “the difference between a purely journalistic outlook and a historical one was demonstrated in the exchange between MSNBC anchors and Harvard historian Niall Fergusson.” For the historian, the outcome of the Egyptian overthrow of Hosni Mubarak “could never have been in doubt for those who benefit from the insight that history provides.”

Putting any adjective in front of "justice" makes it the opposite of justice.- David Burge, Iowahawk

Fast forward to four minutes in to hear what beautiful natural singing really sounds like: these are two untrained singers in their local village choir in Havelu, Tonga, but with more beauty in their voices than many so-called stars:

And for those who recently saw Wagner’s Gotterdammerung at a cinema near you in the Met’s ‘Live in HD’ series, here’s how it went down in the most memorable production at Bayreuth. This is the climactic ending where the gods perish, leaving mankind to cope without them. In other words, an actual happy ending. But naturally, the fat lady has to sing first.

Here’s the great saxophonist they called ‘The Brute,’ a man with immense power who could still play the sweetest ballad without bruising it…

And finally, how cool is this: “The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone, near Aidin, Turkey (not far from Ephesus). The find has been dated variously from around 200 BC to around AD 100.”

8 comments:

I am constantly amazed that the best column of the week, the Friday comment by Not PC slips past without many comments. I can not believe you New Zealanders. Why are we so weak.it is you who are weak, come in here james and fathers 4 justice and Why do not the other blog people come in and join here ... and people like Farrar and Whale Oil and Tim Selwyn and Eric Crampton come in here. They are so pretentious and involved with themselves. Wait I am wrong, Eric the Canadian comes in here, but not you weak New Zealanders.

Within his blog, Cresswell refers to Hugh Pavletich, and the Christchurch LAND PROBLEM. The Christchurch land problem is unresolved. Pavletich throughout his career made brilliant analyses to show that we had abundant and available land. This land will released slowly.Prime Minister, and Executive New Zealand, and CERA, and Minister Brownlie, know that everything has changed.Christchurch will be the first City to have Mayor and Council soon dissolved, thank GOD praise God here, end of this fucking little feudalism Mayor

Shane, you may be wondering what sort of sound you expect to hear when I sing in harmony with my mates, then listen to the following hymn. My favorite hymn. I'm not in that singing group, but my mate Papa & a few of his kava drinking mates from his Epsom/Onehunga Methodist church recorded the following:

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